Sitting down to write down the list of 30 things was more difficult in some ways and easier than I thought in others. I wanted it to be filled with fun things that I never allow myself time to do, or things that I've always said that I wanted to do but never took time to do it because I figure there's always time later. I thought it would be important to add some things that I was scared of as well, or things that I've never properly dealt with in my life.
I want to enter my 30th year, the third decade of my life, in the best place physically, emotionally, and spiritually than I was in my 20s. I want to use the experiences that I've had in my 20s for the good of myself, finally. I've changed and grown a lot. I've redefined my faith. I've graduated college twice. I've found my dream career that I truly feel is a calling of God. I've lived with roommates and on my own. I got a dog and a cat, that I've kept alive so far haha. I've loved and lost, been single and in a relationship. I've gotten a tattoo, dyed my hair (a lot). Rekindled my love for theater. I've been to a foreign country, and tons of places in the US. I've had a great time in my 20s.
But now that fun time is coming to a close. I have to finally become that responsible, put-together, adult that I always dreamed of becoming haha
But first: THE LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Develop a last morning routine: this is something I've struggled with all of my life. Once I'm up I really love being up early, give me some coffee and I'm a peppy morning person. However, I've never been one to get up early enough to actually have a leisurely breakfast, or have a quiet time, or workout in the morning. I'd like to change that though. I'd love not to get up 10 minutes later than I really should and have to throw myself together to get out the door.
2. Feel comfortable with my body: never in my life have I been comfortable with how I look. Which is exhausting. I can remember being so young, elementary school age, and feeling like I needed to diet or workout or change myself but just not knowing how. Not much has changed. But it should. I should be able to change myself mind or body to come to a place where I can accept who I am and not tie my worth to the size of my jeans. I'm not saying that I don't need to change things to get to a healthier place of acceptance, but I think it's a two way street that I need to walk down both sides.
3. Take more vitamins: I suck at this! I've started and stopped a vitamin routine DOZENS of times. There's just something about remembering to take a vitamin in the morning that I simply cannot do. Maybe this one ties into having a good morning routine.
4. Find doctors I like: I really need to stop going to the MinuteClinic only when I've had a fever of 103 for 3 days. I need to find doctors that I trust and visit them like normal people.
5. Learn to trust in God's timing: This is definitely going to be a tough one. But I've got to find some way to let go of all the hang ups I have about things I don't have in my life. When I turned 20 I imagined I'd be married with at least 2 kids by now, but that wasn't God's plan for my life, and that needs to be okay.
6. Daily prayer journal: When I was younger I used to write my prayers down every day. It was a way to spend time looking over my day and the goals I had for the days to come. It was a time to grow closer to God and maybe trust in His plan. Even if I don't make this a prayer journal, I think it would be nice to start some kind of memory thing so that I could remember all the things in my life that happen even if they seem insignificant.
7. Have a better savings plan: I have a savings account, sure, but I'm not actively building my wealth through it. I need to be better about that.
8. Make a dent in my reading list: I have a reading list 1000 miles long. Classics and new age. It grows constantly, and I don't make time for reading like I used to. I should change that.
9. Cook Book Challenge: I'm not sure how to tackle this one, or what exactly it means, but I want to cook something. Something special and wonderful. Something really difficult. I don't know if I want to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's cookbook like in Julie and Julia (you know that movie with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep), but something along those lines maybe. Maybe a shorter cook book haha
10. Take a glass blowing class: I've always wanted to do this, and they're usually super expensive, but I should just rip the band aid off and do it. I think it would be so fun!
11. Ride on a train: I've ridden in trains before (don't freak out) but never cross country, or to a destination. I've never ridden a train as a form of travel, and I think that would be really fun.
12. Travel: This one I'm going to leave kind of vague. I want to go somewhere I've never been, or experience some place in a way I haven't done before. I don't want to tie myself down to one place or experience, I'll just say travel. Somewhere.
13. Take a road trip: Longer than ones I've taken before. One where you stop at all the silly stops along the way to see the world's biggest ball of yarn and stuff like that.
14. Get another tattoo (sorry mom): This one I've been planning for a while, and I need to just do it.
15. Organize my work paperwork better: This is one that I'm sure is surprising for most people because I've always been such a super organized person, but there's something about work that makes it impossible for me to find a good way to stay organized. I develop a system and it just doesn't stick for long. I'll change that.
16. Go ice skating: I've honestly never done this before!
17. Host Friendsgiving: I really wanted to do this last year, but it just didn't work out well. I just love the idea of cooking a really yummy and semi-fancy meal for all of my friends. Maybe this can pair well with the cookbook challenge.
18. Have a once in a lifetime meal: 5 star restaurant, ridiculous amounts of money, so many courses, full for days, worth every calorie and penny kind of meal.
19. Have more intentional friendships: I need to be better about spending regular time with my friends, talking to them on the phone, texting more, emailing more, catching up more. I'm so bad at this and I'm not really sure why. I will be better though.
20. Run a half marathon: again. I don't know why this one came to my head, but I just really want to.
21. Take a photography class: maybe I can finally learn how to use my super fancy camera I bought years ago.
22. Complete a photo challenge: like one of those take a photo a day kind of things. Not just doing half of one like I usually do.
23. Spend a weekend unplugged: a phone just for phone calls, imagine that. No social media, no internet, no texting. Just genuine face to face enjoyment.
24. Take piano lessons: I've been wanting to learn to play the piano since I was 5. I'd say it's about time.
25. Shoot a gun: this is something that completely terrifies me. I hate guns. Hate them. Terrified of them. But I should learn how :/
26. Read/watch the news daily: facebook should not be my only source of worldly news...
27. See SNL in person: I would love love love to watch a live taping of SNL. It's gonna be tough to pull off, but I want to at least try!
28. Learn to drive a stick shift: I've attempted this several times with poor results. I've got the general idea, but it's not a skill I'd take onto the road, around real people, that I could potentially kill.
29. Crochet an afghan: or at least finish the one I started. A huge, snuggly one.
30. Throw a big birthday bash: and love every minute of it!
I actually also started working towards #2 this weekend :) I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I'm starting another whole30 on Monday, with no definite end date. I'm going to cheat some, I already know this because one of the biggest things I learned about whole30 last time, was the importance of moderation. But, as much of a hassle as it was, and as much as I felt as I was missing out on things, I felt so good about myself last time. I felt confident about everything that I put into my body, and thusly felt really good about my body and the good changes I was making.
So let the countdown journey begin!
<3 ME
